Retail Watchers

Here is an interesting turn:

The Sears Grand in West Jordan, UT was converted last year to a standard Sears... along with the conversion a store remodel took place. I can't tell but it appears the store may have been downsized.
https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/sears-w ... B48zc6XspQ

There still appears to be a full Sears Grand operating in Las Vegas. Where are the others?

storewanderer wrote: ↑June 2nd, 2018, 12:06 amThere still appears to be a full Sears Grand operating in Las Vegas.

For now... It is always empty.

Looks like a decent store. If Sears and K-Mart started building stores like that 25 years ago and had not been acquired by Eddie Lampert they might be in less dire shape today.

rwsandiego wrote: ↑June 2nd, 2018, 10:17 am Looks like a decent store. If Sears and K-Mart started building stores like that 25 years ago and had not been acquired by Eddie Lampert they might be in less dire shape today.

Sears Grand Stores (the ones built by Sears before the Kmart merger) were pretty nice. As with most things with Sears, a lot of good ideas, executed with precision at first, and then forgotten or scrapped for the next "new thing" and rinse and repeat that process over and over again. I never saw these Sears Grands with any customers. They were like big caves. I am surprised any are still open.

storewanderer wrote: ↑June 2nd, 2018, 10:29 am

rwsandiego wrote: ↑June 2nd, 2018, 10:17 am Looks like a decent store. If Sears and K-Mart started building stores like that 25 years ago and had not been acquired by Eddie Lampert they might be in less dire shape today.

Sears Grand Stores (the ones built by Sears before the Kmart merger) were pretty nice. As with most things with Sears, a lot of good ideas, executed with precision at first, and then forgotten or scrapped for the next "new thing" and rinse and repeat that process over and over again. I never saw these Sears Grands with any customers. They were like big caves. I am surprised any are still open.

Everything with Sears fell apart post-Lampert. Sears Grand originally had a small dry foods section, but I don't think that really fit with the rest of the merchandise mix Sears was offering. They should've at least tried (with the Super Kmart to Sears Grand conversions) to have a few with full grocery departments. Maybe they did, and they fell apart within months. After all, they actually had a few Super Kmarts with produce departments not only in the front but with baby spotlights and hardwood floors.

pseudo3d wrote: ↑June 2nd, 2018, 10:55 am

storewanderer wrote: ↑June 2nd, 2018, 10:29 am

rwsandiego wrote: ↑June 2nd, 2018, 10:17 am Looks like a decent store. If Sears and K-Mart started building stores like that 25 years ago and had not been acquired by Eddie Lampert they might be in less dire shape today.

Sears Grand Stores (the ones built by Sears before the Kmart merger) were pretty nice. As with most things with Sears, a lot of good ideas, executed with precision at first, and then forgotten or scrapped for the next "new thing" and rinse and repeat that process over and over again. I never saw these Sears Grands with any customers. They were like big caves. I am surprised any are still open.

Everything with Sears fell apart post-Lampert. Sears Grand originally had a small dry foods section, but I don't think that really fit with the rest of the merchandise mix Sears was offering. They should've at least tried (with the Super Kmart to Sears Grand conversions) to have a few with full grocery departments. Maybe they did, and they fell apart within months. After all, they actually had a few Super Kmarts with produce departments not only in the front but with baby spotlights and hardwood floors.

Yes, the original Sears Grand had a small dry foods area with refrigeration. It also had drug, cleaning supplies, and pet. No idea how they sourced any of that stuff because this was pre-Kmart. Once under Kmart, they started to source that stuff through Kmart.

I think adding full grocery to the concept could have been very interesting. Maybe finding a grocery partner and co-branding would have been a better approach.

storewanderer wrote: ↑June 2nd, 2018, 10:59 am
I think adding full grocery to the concept could have been very interesting. Maybe finding a grocery partner and co-branding would have been a better approach.

Generally, supermarkets aren't willing to do "store-within-a-stores" with anybody else, especially under their own name, and complications in the deals usually lead to split paths anyway (Kmart and Bruno's, Wal-Mart and Cullum Cos.). If the rumors were true and Sears bought Safeway in 2005, then maybe that could've worked out. Frankly, I think that it would be interesting if they had used that to start phasing out the Super Kmart name, like instead of Super Kmart in Chicago it would be a Kmart with a Dominick's-branded grocery department.